Chapter 13: The Wards Begin to Crack
The air in Arthur's safehouse smelled of ozone and dried herbs. Jonathan sat slumped against the wall, watching the stasis pod's pale blue light flicker across his mother's face. The machines hummed too quietly, like they were holding their breath.
A notification pulsed in his peripheral vision:
[STASIS INTEGRITY: 91%]
[VESSEL SYNCHRONIZATION: 13%]
The numbers had changed overnight.
Jonathan's fingers twitched toward the pod's control panel before curling into a fist. He could almost hear Aethel's voice slithering through his thoughts: "How long will you keep her in this half-life?"
A floorboard creaked behind him.
"You look like hell."
Chloe stood in the doorway, her new Guild insignia gleaming on her jacket. The shadows under her eyes mirrored his own.
"What are you doing here?" Jonathan's voice came out rougher than he intended.
She tossed him a protein bar. "You missed breakfast. Again." The unspoken you idiot hung in the air.
He caught it on reflex, the wrapper crinkling loud in the quiet room. His mother didn't stir. The pod's monitors continued their steady, mocking beeps.
Chloe's gaze drifted to the blackened veins just visible beneath their mother's collar. "Arthur says"
"I know what Arthur says."
A beat of silence. Then Chloe crouched beside him, her shoulder brushing his. "Then you know we can't keep doing this alone."
The Guild Hall's training yard steamed in the afternoon heat. Jonathan dodged a rookie's wild swing, his muscles moving on autopilot. Three weeks ago, the kid would have been flat on his back by now. Today, Jonathan let him land a glancing blow.
"Ha! Got you!" The rookie grinned, sweat dripping down his nose.
From the sidelines, Seraphina snorted. "He let you hit him, moron." She flicked a pebble at the rookie's head. "Like this." The stone whizzed past Jonathan's ear—he caught it without looking.
Seraphina's smirk widened. "See?"
The rookie's face fell. Jonathan almost felt bad.
Then the world stuttered.
For half a second, Seraphina's shadow stretched too long, twisting into something with too many joints. The pebble in Jonathan's palm burned cold.
[ANOMALY DETECTED]
The alert vanished as quickly as it came. Seraphina was just Seraphina again, rolling her eyes at the rookie's retreating back.
"You're getting slow, Havery." She tossed him a water bottle. "Drink. You look like you're about to pass out."
The plastic was warm from her hands. Jonathan wondered if she'd noticed how his fingers lingered when he took it.
Lilith found him on the rooftop at dusk.
"You missed the debrief." She didn't look at him, just leaned against the railing, her pink braid whipping in the wind.
Jonathan watched the city lights flicker to life below them. "I was busy."
"Obviously." She pulled something from her pocket a broken monster fang, its edge gleaming unnaturally. "Found this near your training spot. The energy signature is... unusual."
The System flared to life:
[ARTIFACT ANALYSIS: 87% MATCH TO "ETHELDRIS" ENERGY]
Jonathan kept his breathing even. "Probably from the Tyrant."
Lilith's fingers tightened around the fang. For a second, he thought she might press further. Then she sighed and tucked it away. "Just... be careful, Havery."
The way she said it made his chest ache.
That night, the dream started pleasantly enough. His mother humming in the kitchen, the smell of fresh bread. Then the loaf split open, revealing a yawning blackness inside.
"You can't starve me forever," Aethel crooned from the void. "Every ward weakens. Every memory fades."
Jonathan woke to the sound of shattering glass.
The stasis pod's surface webbed with fractures, pale blue light bleeding through the cracks. His mother's eyes flew open
and for one terrible second, they weren't hers.
Then the emergency protocols kicked in. The cracks sealed themselves. The monitors resumed their steady beeping.
Silence.
Jonathan sat on the floor, his back against the pod, and waited for dawn.
[STASIS INTEGRITY: 89%]
[VESSEL SYNCHRONIZATION: 14%]
He closed his eyes.